How can I sign my Windows Store app from Window Store certificate?

Question

I have just bought my developer account from the Windows Store, and I would like to sign my app before uploading. When I go inside the packaging and then I click on the choo

Answer 1

You need a codesign certificate. Have a look at this blog post (from Hanselman) where you will find link to one of the CAs that you can buy codesign from.

In most cases you need to buy the codesign certificate but there are CAs (i.e. if you are open source developer) where you can get it for free. One of them is Cetrum CA (which I am currently using). Take a look here. The process of obtaining it is a torture, but the certificate itself is OK. (it doesn't work with all browsers - use FF, single signon needs to be done on every page and mails are in Polish language.)

Answer 2

Not sure if this is related/helpful but FWIW I recently had to get a codesign certificate for my windows store app (for local testing/installs). The following command line scripts work for me in case they help anyone else.

Part 1: Generate the Cert

(Run these from Visual Studio 201x Command Prompt)

# 1) Generate .PVK and .CER
MakeCert /n "CN=YourMSPartnerPublisherIDString" /r /h 0 /eku "1.3.6.1.5.5.7.3.3,1.3.6.1.4.1.311.10.3.13" /sv MyAppName.pvk MyAppName.cer

# 2) Generate .PFX
Pvk2Pfx /pvk  MyAppName.pvk /pi "password" /spc MyAppName.cer /pfx MyAppName.pfx /po "password"

Part 2: Create the APPX from EXE and sign the APPX w/the Cert

(Run these from Command Line as Administrator)

# 3) Generate APPX from EXE
# (Assumes you have your App EXE and valid AppManifest.xml in C:\MyAppFolder\AppxPackage folder)
"C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Kits\10\bin\10.0.17763.0\x64\makeappx.exe" pack /p "C:\MyAppFolder\MyAppName.appx" /d "C:\MyAppFolder\AppxPackage"

# 4) Sign APPX with Cert
"C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Kits\10\bin\10.0.17763.0\x64\signtool.exe" sign /fd sha256 /a /f "C:\MyAppFolder\CertMyAppName.pfx" /p password "C:\MyAppFolder\MyAppName.appx"

Answer 3

I believe you only need to sign your app if you are sideloading it. If you upload it to the Windows Store, Microsoft will sign the app for you.

From the MSDN article Submitting Your Windows 8 Apps:

Signing and publishing. In this final step, we'll sign the packages you submitted with a trusted certificate that matches the technical details of your developer account. This provides customers with the assurance that the app is certified by the Windows Store and hasn't been tampered with.